Notre Dame, Ind. -
The University of Notre Dame hockey team battled the USA National Under-18 team to a 1-1 overtime tie on Sunday evening at the Compton Family Ice Arena in preseason hockey action. The Irish won the shootout portion of the evening, scoring twice to Team USA's one in five rounds.

Junior David Gerths traded third-period goals with the USA's Shane Eiserman with Gerths getting the equalizer at 13:45 of the final period to even the score at 1-1. T.J. Tynan and Bryan Rust scored in the shootout for Notre Dame while Anthony Louis had the lone USA goal in a shootout that went five rounds.

Team USA goaltender Thatcher Demko stopped 25-of-26 shots in the game. Junior Steven Summerhays got the start for Notre Dame, playing 33:59, stopping all 12 shots he faced. Senior Mike Johnson played the final 31:01 and the shootout, making eight saves in regulation and overtime.

For the Irish, who had just two practices under their belts since the first official practice on Saturday, Sunday's preseason contest was a good way to get ready for the regular season.

"This is a good game to work the bugs out," said Irish head coach Jeff Jackson.

"They're (Team USA) a good opponent to open the season with. They are skilled; they skate well and they aren't cheap. They played a lot harder tonight after they got their eyes opened to college hockey (5-0 loss at Wisconsin on Saturday night). I give them a lot of credit. They make it hard on you and that's what you need to do to prepare for the season. It also shows you a lot of things you have to focus on for the upcoming week."

The first two periods were what you would expect from a first preseason game as the teams spent time not only adjusting to the opposition but to each other. The Irish out shot the Under-18 Team, 12-4, in the first period but Demko kept the Irish off the scoreboard.

It was more of the the same in the second with Team USA getting the better of the shot column, a 9-5 advantage, but the score was still 0-0. Summerhays stopped eight of the nine shots while Johnson had one in his six minutes of play.

Team USA finally broke through at 1:10 of the third period when Eiserman scored off a nice set up by Michael McCarron.

With the puck being played in the Notre Dame zone in the right corner, McCarron worked it free and carried it around to the left side of the goal. He slid a pass back across the crease to Eiserman who was parked on the right side and he fired it over Johnson who had no chance on the play to give the USA the 1-0 lead.

The Irish got the equalizer at 13:45 when Mike Voran's pass from the left wing boards found Gerths all alone in the slot. The junior center had some time and tucked it behind Demko to tie the game at 1-1. Sophomore defenseman Eric Johnson set the play in motion, chipping the puck off the boards at center to Voran who carried it into the USA zone.

"I wasn't surprised that I was that wide open as the play developed," said Gerths.

"It was nice to have time for once. You don't get many chances where you have 10 seconds to take a shot. It was nice to score, it's been awhile."

That would be it for the scoring as each team tightened up in their own zone in the final minutes of regulation and the five-minute overtime.

In the shootout, Louis gave Team USA a 1-0 lead, scoring on the second shot. Tynan answered on Notre Dame's second shot to even things at 1-1. Sean Malone and Tyler Kelleher missed for Team USA while Thomas DiPauli and Anders Lee missed for the Irish. In the fifth round, Scott Savage missed on his shot and Rust sent the 3,748 on hand home as he beat Demko with a nifty move for the win.

"That's a move that I've been working on in practice a lot," said Rust.

"I come down, fake the shot, make the goalie bite, then turn to my backhand before I make a hard cut to the forehand and I had an open net."

Notre Dame will return to practice this coming week as they prepare for the regular-season opener at the Ice Breaker Tournament on Friday night. The Irish will face the University of Maine in the opening game of that tournament in Kansas City, Mo., at
6:00 p.m. (CT).

" We have a lot of things that we need to get better at," said Jackson.

"Face offs, special teams, the power play - it looked sharp in practice but it didn't tonight. Part of the reason for that is playing live competition. In practice, they know what is going to happen."